Diversified major Glencore has offered to buy Canadian miner Teck Resources’ steelmaking coal business, Elkview Resources (EVR), the companies confirmed on Monday.
This comes as Teck has twice turned down Glencore's proposal for a merger.
Glencore’s intention to split into MetalsCo and Coalco remains, but the potential demerger would not be immediate.
Glencore said in a statement that, while it remained keen to pursue its proposed full merger with Teck, the alternative EVR proposal would allow for a value accretive demerger of the combined coal and carbon steel materials business (CoalCo) to its shareholders. If a transaction were to materialise, Glencore would demerge CoalCo once it has sufficiently delevered. The timeframe for this is about 12 to 24 months from close.
Glencore and Teck did not disclose the value of the proposed EVR transaction. However, analysts at UBS said that they expected it to be close to Teck's fairness opinion of C$10-billion to C$12-billion ($7.5-billion to $9-billion) and Glencore's prior cash/stock proposal of $8.2-billion.
The Teck board has opposed Glencore’s initial proposal for a merger, and instead, wanted to pursue the separation of its coal and metals assets, but withdrew that plan hours before shareholders were due to meet on the development in late April.
Teck has confirmed it has received a "high degree of interest" from a "wide range of parties" for its EVR business. Glencore’s cash proposal for the steelmaking coal unit was one of those, the Canadian firm said in a statement on Monday, noting that the proposal was preliminary in detail, conditional and nonbinding.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank stated that the sale of the coking coal assets to Glencore could be an "attractive middle ground" for both companies. "It would provide Teck with a cleaner exit from coal and allow Glencore to split its own business into CoalCo and MetalsCo, potentially providing a re-rating of the metals business while the combination of the two sets of coal assets is what Glencore management believes can justify a standalone CoalCo and NYSE listing."
Glencore, meanwhile, said that it was committed to ensuring that the proposed EVR acquisition would benefit Canada and was open to working with Teck to identify commitments for the benefit of all relevant stakeholders.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that any takeover bid for Teck will have to get through a “rigorous process” to win government approval, considering the importance of the company to the Canadian economy. The Conservative Party of Canada previously called for the takeover of Teck by Glencore to be blocked, arguing that the merger would “ship thousands of jobs out of the country”.
Teck operates four steelmaking coal mines in the Elk Valley of British Columbia which employ over 4 000 people.